Chemnitz University of Technology has been conducting research into solutions for the additive manufacturing of electric motors since the end of 2012 . Now, for the very first time, it has succeeded in manufacturing all the necessary components for such motors by printing them in a laboratory using a proprietary multi-material 3D printing process , in which highly viscous copper, iron, and ceramic pastes are layered by means of extrusion and then sintered. The university plans to present this ‘world premiere’ in more detail at the Hannover Messe: at the Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia universities’ pavilion (“R&D Collaboration”) in Hall 2, A38 .

The process is now set to be further developed to ready it for series production. There is scope for application of the process in the engineering, automotive, and aviation industries. The use of ceramic materials in place of polymer-based materials for insulation purposes provides for significantly greater temperature resistance: The upper temperature limit is fixed by the ferromagnetic properties of the iron used alone, whereby these remain the same up to the 700 °C range. Crucial for this manufacturing process is the precise dosing of the individual pastes, which is why the process was implemented in cooperation with Bavarian company ViscoTec Pumpen- und Dosiertechnik GmbH , which also acts as a partner to the aerospace industry for the development of automated manufacturing processes.